The Foreign Office of Pakistan has firmly dismissed the 2024 annual report by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), stating that the conclusions drawn about Pakistan are rooted in erroneous beliefs and lack solid evidence.
Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, the spokesperson for the Foreign Office, emphasized on Thursday that the report does not accurately portray the actual state of religious freedom within Pakistan.
The USCIRF, which is tasked with evaluating potential threats to the essential human right of freely practicing one’s faith, has labeled Pakistan in its 2024 report as a nation of significant concern due to persistent, systematic, and severe infringements of religious liberty.
The report references various acts of aggression against minority religious groups and instances of “forced conversions” that occurred in the previous year, including a devastating explosion at a mosque in Peshawar that resulted in over 100 fatalities and the slaying of a Sikh individual in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
According to the report, the situation for religious freedom in Pakistan worsened in 2023. Minorities were persecuted for their religious beliefs, facing charges of blasphemy, mob brutality, lynchings, and coerced religious conversions.
While the report acknowledges the Pakistani government’s constructive changes, such as modifying blasphemy laws and making Islamic studies optional for minority religions, it also advocates for specific sanctions against Pakistani state entities and officials implicated in serious breaches of religious freedom.
Nonetheless, Baloch, during her regular media briefing, argued that the USCIRF’s yearly practice of categorizing nations is unnecessary and ineffective.
She pointed out the inconsistency of the USCIRF’s recommendations by noting that the US State Department has not heeded its advice to designate India as a ‘Country of Particular Concern’ since 2020.
Baloch contended that the credibility of this process would be enhanced if it were free from double standards and geopolitical biases and paid more attention to the escalating issue of Islamophobia.
In addition, the Foreign Office spokesperson vehemently denounced the assault by Israeli settlers on a Jordanian humanitarian convoy destined for the besieged Gaza Strip.
Baloch censured the hostile takeover of the Rafah border crossing in southern Gaza by Israeli forces, which contradicts international cautions and norms of acceptable global conduct.
She highlighted that Israeli troops are advancing to forcibly remove civilians from their last refuge in Gaza, where millions are escaping the brutal onslaught.
Baloch called for immediate international intervention to halt these acts of war and crimes against humanity. She urged for measures to ensure the full protection of civilians in line with international humanitarian law and for the perpetrators of the Gaza atrocities to be held accountable.
